Due to Lack of Interest Tomorrow Has Been Cancelled
Options for Titles
A Christ Haunted Landscape (Flannery O’Connor) A Cruel Beginning A Memory of a Cruelty An Acute Sense of Dislocation of Place An Imaginary Place Anima Locus The “soul” of a place, its essential personality. A Nostalgia for the Familiar and an Urge for the Foreign and Strange (Carson McCullers) Ars Moriendi The art of dying. As the Crow Flies Linea recta. A Story World, a Narrative Space August is the Cruelest Month Backwoods Dementia Between Desire and the Fabrication of Place (Suzanne Matheson and Alex McKay: The Transient Glance: The Claude Mirror and the Picturesque) Blood Thirst Catalogue Irraisonné An irrational, comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist. Claude Mirror The Claude mirror was an optical instrument widely popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was named after its ability to transform a landscape view into something reminiscent of a painting by Claude Lorraine. Crazy Quilt Folklore Crown of Trees Darkness Terrible in its Own Nature On the Sublime and Beautiful (Edmund Burke) Darkness Visible William Styron’s memoir about his descent into depression. Darknet A closed private network of computers used for file sharing. Dark Shadows Dead Church A church that externally seems to be going through all the right motions but is not pro-active in the cause of Christ. Deliverance A 1972 American dramatic thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman and starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox. The film is based on the 1970 novel of the same name by American author James Dickey. Desire for Substance Dislocation, Dis/location Dogwood and Sweetgum Trees with striking red leaves. Due to Lack of Interest Tomorrow Has Been Cancelled
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Earth Lights, Spook Lights, Geolumina Atmospheric ghost lights seen by travelers at night, especially over bogs, swamps or marshes. End-time Encounter Fakelore or pseudo-folklore Inauthentic, manufactured folklore presented as if it were genuinely traditional. False Preachers God Seeker God’s Honor Defeats Human Shame Grace Hanging Tree Harbingers of Death and Messengers of Grief Mourning covers, letters edged in black. Heimweh, Fernweh Home sickness, far sickness. Hellfire History Maker Homesick Most for the Places We Have Never Known (Carson McCullers) Hora Est Horror Vacui Fear of empty space. In the mind however, horror vacui may have two different meanings: Fear of gaps in knowledge or inner emptiness caused by a missing sense of life. Religion may fill gaps of both kind. Idol An image or other material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed or any person or thing regarded with admiration, adoration or devotion. If God is Your Co-pilot, Swap Seats I Know Dark Clouds The Wayfaring Stranger, a well-known American folk song likely originating in the early 19th century about a plaintive soul on the journey through life. As with most folk songs, many variations of the lyrics exist. Inertia The resistance of any physical object to any change in its state of motion, including changes to its speed and direction. In Medias Res / Medias In Res Into the middle of things. In the Beginning Invisible Death The shift away from dying at home, towards dying in a professionalized medical environment. Island of Righteousness It Is the Nature of All Greatness Not to Be Exact (Edmund Burke) I Want to See a Smile on Your Face! Jesus Camp An American documentary film about a charismatic Christian summer camp, where children spend their summers being taught that they have prophetic gifts and can “take back America for Christ.”
Kraemer, Louisiana — Atchafalaya Swamp
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Kraemer, Louisiana — Atchafalaya Swamp
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Kraemer, Louisiana
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Kraemer, Louisiana
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Paradoxia* “we thought the place was u nike one of a kind, everyday people like us. making a living an showing people the cajun way. not fake and fonny like other places trying to be what there are not. what you see is the bayou, gators, and the swamp, no city life there, real country people. an a way of life. rates are ok, an the food the food is worth the drive. great… we had fun an know you will too…” — William N. Thibodaux, Louisiana, tripadvisor.com Since no one else wishes to see alligators being fed marshmallows on a bleak Tuesday morning I get a private boat tour into Bayou Boeuf. The slightly retarded second cousin who will be my guide can’t stop looking at my chest. The trip lasts for two hours. Back at the hatchery I get to hold a baby gator.
*sexual desire at the wrong time of life [Krafft-Ebbing] or a genus of algae.
Rodney, Mississippi — Ghost Town
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Clinton, Tennessee — Museum of Appalachia
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Clinton, Tennessee — Museum of Appalachia
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Clinton, Tennessee
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PAEPP (Planetary Aviation Evangelist Past and Present) When one handles venomous snakes there are two options: they bite or they don’t. And if they do there are two options: you die or you don’t. And that’s the Will of God. On my way to the snake-handling church in the Eastern Tennessee Appalachian Mountains I get more and more edgy. I’m not afraid of snakes; however, people who are so devoted to Jesus they are willing to sacrifice their lives are completely alien to me because faith like that defies reason. It took me weeks of research to find this place; the unwavering faithful practicing the Old Time Religion are not likely to warmly welcome nosy photographers. Or have a website. Besides, in most states it’s an outlawed practice so these people tend to be a little secretive.
Three trailer homes and a sign that reads: Tabernacle Church of God Pastor A. H. Fri 7:30 Sun 11:00
It is Sunday, 11 a.m. and the site is deserted. I don’t know which is stronger: my disappointment or my relief. On my return I visit the Museum of Appalachia (Let the past touch your soul): an extensive collection of local paraphernalia and artifacts, spread out over 36 cabins, barns and sheds. Every single item has a handwritten tag that explains who made what, where and why. Sort of wonderful and boring at the same time. The pinnacle of their collection is the white coat of Henry Harrison Mayes (1898–1986) on which he drew 278 crosses, representing the number of Christian denominations he was aware of. In his heyday this self-proclaimed preacher erected hundreds of concrete crosses all over Tennessee but intended to expand his territory to the moon and planets. For this he built a special bicycle.
New Orleans, Louisiana — City Park
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Rifles Civil War, real photo postcard (RPPC), 1910–1930
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2011 — Mortality Thanatophobia (Fear of Death) O’Death Lonesome (1999–?) Horror Vacui
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Rodney, Mississippi — Ghost Town
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Carlton, Alabama — Mount Nebo Cemetery
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Carlton, Alabama
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O’Death* “Hey li’l girl, you from Flor’da?” My rental car has a Sunshine State license plate and I’m 47 at the time. I am lost again, trying to locate a derelict Baptist Church cemetery hidden somewhere in a muggy forest. It’s a sweltering 102 degrees Fahrenheit. I want to photograph the concrete headstones fabricated by an inventor born in the 1880s who, according to local lore, also built a perpetual motion machine. The 88-year-old Vietnam veteran insists on leading the way on foot, although the path proves to be more unruly than anticipated and a tiring half mile long. He says he needs the exercise but I think he’s too shy to sit next to me. At the graveyard he paints a picture of Miss Lily’s pet hog escaping and creating quite a stir, back in ’54.
* O’Death is probably a “lowering song”, one that would be sung as the body was lowered into the grave. It is found in white and Negro tradition from Texas to the Georgia Sea Islands and is available today in widely contrasting settings: unaccompanied vocal solo, hillbilly duet (with guitars), bluegrass band. This stark conversational piece has attracted a number of short stylized explanations that place the song on the lips of a dying slave beaten by a cruel plantation mistress, or on the lips of a Kentucky hill-preacher stricken by the Lord for ignoring His call. — Sarah Ogan Gunning
O’Death What is this that I can see With icy hands taking hold of me I am death and none can tell I open the door to heaven and hell Oh Death, O Death, Please spare me over till another year Death oh Death, consider my age Please don’t take me in this stage My wealth is all at your command If you would move your icy hand Oh Death, O Death, Please spare me over till another year No wealth no land No silver nor gold Nothing satisfies me but your soul Oh Death, O Death, Please spare me over till another year Mother come now to my bed Put a cold towel upon my head My head is warm my feet is cold Death put his shackles on my soul Oh Death, O Death, Please spare me over till another year Death oh Death please let me see If Christ has turned his back on me God’s children pray, His preachers preach The time of hope is out of reach Oh Death, O Death, Please spare me over till another year
Mandeville, Louisiana
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Mandeville, Louisiana
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Crossville, Tennessee — The Minister’s Tree House
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Crossville, Tennessee — The Minister’s Tree House
Overkill In 1993 God told Horace Burgess to build a tree house. And, looking for a way to turn his life around after a decade of partying, that’s what he did. He got ordained and set out to work. By now it has grown to monumental proportions: it’s ten stories high, has over 80 rooms, a church and a bell tower that he calls the penthouse. Apparently when not in service the church doubles as a basketball court. I was brave enough to climb the ramshackle tower to see the word “Jesus” spelled out in native flora on an adjacent field.
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Yazoo City, Mississippi
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Desire for Substance The girl at the counter of the decrepit motel is missing a couple of teeth. She gives me a discount of $5, just to be nice. At my offer to share a beer she announces that she’s been sober for seven months, three days and eight hours. The next day at the Gonzalez, Louisiana gun show a sturdy police officer throws me out because I am taking photographs. I argue that it’s more obscene to shoot animals than pictures but she seems to hate everything about me so it’s no use. I can’t stop laughing.
Apalachicola, Florida Panhandle Crawford, Alabama
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